Door securing means for refrigerators



July 15, 1958 A. N. JOHANNESEN 2,843,409

DOQR SECURING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATORS 7 Filed Aug. 19, 1955 2 Sheets-:Sheet I IFE max .6411 ,2 Mcblzalzzws l m B A T URNLY July 15, 1958 A. N. JOHANNESEN noon SECURING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATORS' 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Aug. 19, 1955 INVENTOR. Jl LQJ LMJO/ZQIUZQSQIZ.

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DOOR SECURING MEANS FOR REFRIGERATORS Allan N. J ohannesen, Framingham Center, Mass., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application August 19, 1955, Serial No. 529,601

3 Claims. (Cl. 292-165) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to securing means for refrigerator doors and the like and has for its primary object to provide a latch including means by which the same may i be released from the interior of the refrigerator even though a padlock or other locking device is applied to the latch so as to prevent it from being released from the exterior.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of such a device consisting of only a few parts of inexpensive but sturdy construction which are simply arranged and easily operated by a single rectilinear movement.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a door on which the novel securing means is mounted, and the frame to which the door is hinged;

Figure 2 is a view of the inner or opposite side of the door and the frame to which it is hinged;

Figure 3 is an edge view of the door frame showing the fastening means in edge view;

Figure 4 is an enlarged top plan view of the door frame and showing a top plan view of the latching mechanism;

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through the door and a portion of the door frame; and,

Figures 6 and 7 are fragmentary detail views of the latch showing the same as being released from the interior of the container by the escape mechanism, and by exterior operation.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail and by reference numerals the door frame which forms a part of the container is indicated by the numeral 1 and the door itself by numeral 2. The latch mechanism for the door is indicated generally by the numeral 3, the hinges by the numeral 4 and the means for preventing entrance to the refrigerator or other container even though the hinge pintles are removed by the numeral 5.

United States PatentO The entrance to the container is indicated by the I numeral 7 and on the inner edge thereof is mounted a keeper 8 for receiving a roller 9 carried by the inner end of the latch member 10. This member 10 is slidably mounted in a frame 11 which is secured on the inner face of the door 2. A coil spring 12 encircles the latch member 10 and has one end in engagement with the rear leg 13 of the frame member 11, the opposite end of the spring 12 is in engagement with a sleeve 14 adjustably mounted on the member 10 by means of nut 15. This spring as thus mounted serves to bias the latch member 10 and its roller 9 toward the free edge of the door and into engagement with the keeper 8 when the door is closed.

Mounted on the end of the latch member 10 opposite to the roller 9 is a transversely extended member 16. This member is of cylindrical form and provided with a transverse aperture by means of which it is threaded onto the member 10 and held in position thereon by means of a nut 17. Pivoted to the rear or inward end of the frame 11, as indicated by numeral 18, is an arm 19 having a camming portion 20 on its rear or inner end which is slotted at 21 so as to straddle the inner end of the latch member 10 and engage the member 16 to force the latch member to the right, as shown in the drawings, against the pressure of spring 12. As indicated, this pivoted arm 19 is mounted on the inner side of the door 2 and thus will serve to release the latch mechanism from the keeper 8, from inside the container.

On the outer side of the door 2 is a pocket or recess 22 in which is slidably mounted a latch-operating handle 23 attached to a rod 24 slidably mounted in bearings 25 and 26 for rectilinear movement through the door 2. The inner end of the rod 24 is connected with the arm 19 by a non-rigid connection consisting of links 27 and 28 which are pivotally connected to each other as indicated by numeral 29. The opposite end of the link 28 is pivoted to the arm 19 as indicated by the numeral 30, and the opposite end of the link 27 is pivotally connected to rod 24 as indicated by numeral 31.

The free edge of the door 2 is provided with a gasket 35 to be compressed against the frame 1. when the door is closed so as to provide an airtight seal. The edge of the door opposite the latch member 10 may be provided with means for preventing surreptitious opening of the door by removing the hinges 4 or the hinge pintles. This means consists, in the present illustration, of a pair of arms 40 pivoted at 41 to brackets 42 mounted on the inner side of the door 2 and extending to points beyond the inner edge of the door frame 1. The free ends of the arms 40 carry rollers 42 adapted to bear against the inner wall of the container or frame 1 when the door is closed and are held in such positions by coil springs 43 mounted in brackets 44 fixed to the inner face of the door and straddling the arms 40. By reason of this construction surreptitious opening of the door by tampering with the hinges 4 is prevented, but nevertheless the door may be readily opened when the latch mechanism is released since the spring 43 will permit pivotal movement of the arm 40 about its pivot 41 as the roller 42 rides around the adjacent edge of the door frame 1.

Reverting to the latch mechanism 10 and the means for operating the same, there is provided a lock for securing the latch mechanism against unauthorized use from the exterior of the container. This lock mechanism comprises an eye bolt 50 slidably mounted in the back wall of the recess or pocket 22 in proximity to the handle 23 and a padlock 51 the hasp of which is adapted to be passed through the eye 50 and about the handle 23 so as to prevent a pull on the handle 23 for the purpose of swinging the pivoted arm 19 into substantially horizontal position to release the latch mechanism 10 from the keeper 8.

In the operation of the device assuming the padlock 51 to be in place for securely locking the door against unauthorized opening and assuming that someone has been inadvertently or otherwise locked within the container, such person may move the latch to inoperative position so as to escape from the container by merely pressing outwardly on the arm 19. This outward movement of the arm is permitted by reason of the non-rigid means 27-28 which connects the rod 24 with the arm 19 but which may buckle as indicated in Figure 7 when the arm is pressed outwardly so as to cause the cam 20 to engage the member 16 to withdraw the roller 19 from the keeper 8, thereby releasing the door and permitting it to be moved to open position. Also, when the padlock 51 is removed from the handle 23 the handle may be pulled outwardly so as to cause the rod 24 to exert a pull on the links 27-28 to draw the arm 19 outwardly to cause the cam 20 to withdraw the latch in the identical manner in which it would be withdrawn when the arm 19 is operated from the interior of the container by a person locked therein.

In accordance with the patent statutes I have described what I now consider to be the preferred form of the invention, but inasmuch as various minor changes may be made in structural details without departing from the spirit of the invention it is intended that all such changes be includedin the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A latch mechanism comprising a frame adapted to be mounted on the inner side of a door, a latch member slidably mounted in said frame for movement between a door-latching position and a retracted position, spring means urging the latch member towards the door-latching position, an arm pivoted intermediate its ends to said frame, one end of the armbeing engageable with the latch member to move the same to said retracted position when the other end of the arm is moved toward the door, an operating element adapted to be positioned on the outer side of the door, means for connecting said element to said other end of said arm for operating the arm from the outer side of the door, said connecting means being so constructed and arranged as to permit operation of the arm from the inner side of the door even though said operating element is locked against movement.

2'. A latch mechanism comprising a frame adapted to be mounted on the inner side of a door, a latch member slidably mounted in said frame for movement between a door-latching position and a retracted position, spring means urging the latch member towards'the door-latching position, an arm pivoted intermediate its ends to said frame, one end of the arm being engageable with the latch member to move the same to said retracted position when the other end of the arm is moved toward the door, an operating element adapted to be positioned on the outer side of the door, and toggle means connecting said element to said other end of said arm, whereby operation of the arm from the inner side of the door is permitted even though said operating element is locked against movement.

3. A latch mechanism comprising a frame adapted to be mounted on the inner side of a door, a latch member slidably mounted in said frame for movement between a door-latching position and a retracted position, spring means urging the latch member towards the door-latching position, an arm pivoted intermediate its ends to said frame, one end of the arm being engageable with the latch member to move the same to said retracted position when the other end of the arm is moved toward the door, an operating handle adapted to be positioned on the outer side of the door for reciprocating movement, and toggle means connecting said handle to said other end of the arm, whereby operation of the arm from the inner side of the door is permitted even though the handle is locked against movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,167,011 Nelson -v Ian. 4, 1916 1,578,779 Titus Mar. 30, 1926 1,654,256 Hill et al Dec. 27, 1927 1,840,163 Hersch et a1. Jan. 5, 1932 

